Oh Vermont....

It's hard to believe but another youth mission trip has come to an end. Another crazy week of serving, loving, laughing and growing. Last week a team of all girls traveled to Rutland, Vermont. In Rutland we learned lots of important lessons... one of the most important being that just because a place/town doesn't "look poor" on the surface doesn't mean that they don't have great needs. Rutland was an amazing town to serve, in a beautiful place.

We spend the week serving on two different teams, mixed with youth from North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Defiance, OH. One of our teams served by leading Kid's CLub, spending time at a retirement home, cleaning vacant houses, and helping clean yards of people who could not do it themselves. THe other team served by clearning trails at a local park (one of the biggest sources of pride in Rutland. You can see what they did here: PineHillPark.org- click at the bottom on July 20-21 for more information and access to a great article that was in the paper quoting one of our youth!). They also served at Kid's Club and visited residents at a retirement home.

Unfortunately I (Carly) could never remember to take pictures of the work parts, so all the following pictures are of the fun stuff! Although we did see lots of amazing things, we worked really hard as well!

Here we go again....

On the way we stopped at Niagara Falls. This is the girls at the top of the falls,

before they really realized what they were getting into!

We took a ride on the Maid of the Mist. THese ponchos? They are free... and do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO KEEP YOU DRY. Oh, we were SO WET!!

Abby had a positive outlook about that poncho... too bad I don't have a camera of what happened about 10 minutes later....
The girls on top of the observation tower... still WET.

Ahhh... pretty falls... pretty WET!

These girls? Also SOAKED!

We visited a marble museum outside of Rutland one night. One of the reasons for the need in Rutland is the downturn of the marble industry. With less demand, less mining, and less jobs.

Marble sculptures...

One night the entire camp hiked to the White Rocks Outlook (or something). Very pretty... very high! Here's Becky... lovin it!

These girls loved it too... although they also had some concerns that their mothers would be worried that close to the edge... but everyone survived!

and then we got even closer to the edge....

Conquerors of the mountain!

Sunset from White Rocks, over the Green Mountains....

On the last day of our trip we visited the Ben and Jerry's factory in Waterbury. This is what a Sulphur Grove Youth pint would look like... don't they appear thrilled?! They WERE thrilled when they got to stop BEING ice cream and eat free ice cream instead!

Ahhh... just what we need in the world...

And so ends another week of missions. It may be our last big trip fo the year, but there are many more service projects coming up. THanks for the memories girls!

A special thanks to:

-Abby- The Bulldog:

You are a great leader. We couldn't have done it without you.

Thanks for reminding us to be strong and sleep well!

-Youth Works Staff:

You sometimes made us crazy, you made us laugh...

but you didn't make us cry (and we appreciate that!)

Thank you for teaching, leading, and serving us. We were blessed by you!

-The city of Rutland:

We found in you beauty we never expected and will never forget.

Thank you for opening your city and hearts to us. You have changed us.

-The people of Sulphur Grove:

Once again you trusted us... this time to travel to a place you weren't really sure was a

"mission" type place... and we were blessed by your willingness. Thank you for supporting

and loving us, no matter what craziness we come up with.

We wouldn't be who we are without you!